Welcome to 'Pitch-Perfect Persuasion,' the official blog of Bitton Communications.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Primal Quest Media Director Interrupts Bitton Blog

Photo by Mike BittonPrimal Quest Media Director Gordon Wright, mastermind behind the flood of media coverage about the world's toughest adventure race, flashes his famous smile in the media room.

I've been away from the blog for a few days because Primal Quest Media Director Gordon Wright has been working me like an insecure summer intern who's desperate to gain favor. I interviewed a team, wrote about that team, repeated the trick a dozen times, and now I am beat. I'm ready for a vacation from my vacation!

I've volunteered to stay here at the PQ headquarters media room for a few days. Some time next week, I will rotate into the job of escorting media around the race course. The strategy behind that decision is that hopefully, life around here will be a little less urgent with nearly everyone gone, and I can get some much needed rest.

Highlights of my 2006 Primal Quest experience so far have been all my interactions with athletes, volunteers and staff.

Many of these athletes count me as their friend, and that is such an honor. I know teams not only from Washington and Oregon, where I live, but from California, Utah, Arizona, Oklahoma, Kansas, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, Michigan, New York, Georgia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

Volunteer friends are also from all over the U.S. and the world. It's such a fascinating cross-section of cultures and languages, all brought together by a passion for adventure.

Race staff are a pleasure to work with, because they are not only professional, they are intelligent. They know not only what they want their volunteers to do, but why they want the volunteers to do it. What a nice contrast to the newsrooms I worked in for 10 years, where workload was based not on intelligent decisoins, but on politics, egos and a never-ending false sense of urgency.

The next few days should be a great break from the constant interviewing and writing I've been doing since Monday. Maybe I'll sleep in a few times, lounge around by the deserted pool,and start reading the good book I brought on the trip.